Chapter 7: Many Meetings
Ruphus walked swiftly away from the watering hole at the lunch break. He had to find Sculra and knock some sense into her, he didn't care how he would do it but he was determined to do all he could to protect his sweet young daughter, who had probably begun her training with Sura by now.
Ruphus remembered what had happened in the morning when he woke the children up. The tide of questions about the whereabouts of their mother and Ducky was enormous. Ruphus had to be clever here in order to keep his cover from being blown. "Well children Ducky has gone with your mother to do some training for the Individual Trials, the training is taken in private so they left early and sometimes it can take a few days, so don't be surprised if they are gone a few days" said Ruphus.
This response seemed to satisfy everyone except Spike who was always very close to Ducky and didn't like the fact that Ducky had disappeared over night without saying goodbye. But he was thankfully okay with it.
Ruphus continued on his trek until he found Sculra by the great tree star tree.
He advanced cautiously forward.
"Well hello Ruphus" said Sculra in an unusually kind voice "and what brings you here?"
Ruphus glared at her, he knew that she fancied him, but he already had his lovely mate Sura. Ruphus reflected "This must be another reason why she doesn't like Sura. Sura has taken the mate that Sculra always wanted. Giving Ducky the Trial might just be a way to get back at Sura". The thought disgusted him, that Sculra would try to get back at Sura for silly reasons and the way she would do it was to sent Ducky to her death.
"You know why I'm here Sculra, so you can drop the act.
"Sculra rolled her eyes "Such a pity, this had to happen but it's not that bad a loss, I mean we could have had many wonderful children, that were ten times better then Sura's" she said in a sweet girly voice.
Ruphus felt his fist clench, he glared furiously at Sculra then he spoke in a very serious and firm voice.
"I would not trade any of my children for you even if you were the last female in the world" he said in a angry, low voice. "How can you take pleasure from this? How could you take away Ducky from me and Sura? she does not deserve this".
"I assure you Ruphus" said Sculra in an irritated voice. "I take no pleasure from this, but is she not the fastest Swimmer in your family and didn't she save that young Spiketail when he fell into the river?".
"Ducky was also saved by Sura on that occasion you seem to have forgotten Sculra. Look why don't you just let her go and stop the Trial? It is a tradition that we should have forsaken long ago. Look Sura and I will do anything for you to stop the Trial" replied Ruphus.
Sculra eyed him closely, then a wide smile spread across her face.
"You'll do anything to save your daughter?" she asked curiously.
"I would".
Sculra smiled and said in a sly voice "My terms are this: you shall forsake Sura and be my mate, Sura will then resign her position as herd leader then she and the rest of her children will then leave the Valley and never return, then I might consider stopping the Trial".
Ruphus stared at her his anger was at boiling point "So after Sura resigns and leaves with her children and I become you mate YOU WILL ONLY CONSIDER STOPPING THE TRIALS!". Ruphus yelled, he finally lost control and charged Sculra knocking her to the ground and pinning her with his foot. "HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU HAD TO SENT YOUR CHILDREN TO THEIR DEATHS!" shouted Ruphus at the top of his lungs. He didn't notice that he had attracted a few adult Swimmers who watched the scene with numb shock.
Ruphus pushed his foot over Sculra's neck and pushed down firmly, he had taken to much from this vile fiend and now he would end her life.
Sculra choked and struggled but she was helpless to save herself.
This gave Ruphus immense satisfaction but before he could complete the job, he was grabbed from behind by at least three Swimmers and pulled away from Sculra.
Sculra got back to her feet and glared at Ruphus. "I will enjoy watching your dear mate's reaction when her daughter's blood fills the river and all that remains of her is a bloodied bit of flesh!" she hissed fiercely. "I don't know why you bother saving her when you've got more children coming".
"What?" said Ruphus suddenly taken aback.
"Didn't you know?" said Sculra suddenly curious "Sura is pregnant".
Ruphus gasped in astonishment "Sura's......pregnant?" he thought, how could he fail notice, he knew perfectly why Sura hadn't told him, she had done it before: made it a surprise but in this case with the Trials coming up she also did it to stop Sculra finding out in order to keep the eggs safe. "Looks like she failed at that" thought Ruphus, he looked at Sculra.
"Yes, I knew from the first moment Ruphus with all the pregnancies I've seen, I would be surprised if I hadn't noticed" she replied to Ruphus questioned look. Sura will lay eggs soon so I suggest that you watch your step in the future or those eggs will never hatch".
"You wouldn't dare!" said Ruphus.
"You just make sure that Ducky takes the Trial and no one will get hurt" said Sculra in her sweetest voice.
"Except Ducky, you want Ducky to......". Ruphus was breathing hard and fast he could not bring himself to say it. "Just to hurt Sura. YOUR A MONSTER!" he yelled, he knew their would be no compromise now, this talk was a waste of time, so he played his last card.
"If you harm any of my children, smash any of Sura's eggs or kill my daughter then I will not rest until you share her fate" he said in a deadly voice before he turned and left without another word or backward glance. "If only those other Swimmers had not intervened then Sculra would be dead and Ducky would be safe" he thought "and all this trouble would not be". Ruphus was right, but there was a lot more trouble to come before the big day.
By noon the news among the Swimmers that Ducky was taking the Trial had circulated around the Valley and it hit many very hard, the possibility of losing a such a young innocent and happy child was just unthinkable and this news quickly spread to the other herds and Grandma Longneck.
As the bright circle began it's decent Grandma Longneck met up with Grandpa Longneck.
"Hello dear" he said as she approached "I'm going to get Littlefoot, it's late and-" Grandpa stopped when he saw the expression on his mates face, she had tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong dear?".
Grandma took a breath "You should not get Littlefoot just yet, we need to talk".
"What is it?"
"Do you remember The Swimmer Trials?" she asked
Grandpa seemed to understand what she was getting at "The Trial of Destiny?" he asked. Grandma nodded and began to sob quietly, her mate nuzzled until she calmed enough to talk.
"Sura's......daughter......Ducky has been......chosen" she said between sobs.
Grandpa's face took on a grim look.
"Oh dear, she's such a lovely little Swimmer, why did it have to be her?" he said sadly, he sounded like he had aged several years after he heard the news.
"Why don't they...just throw...that cursed Swimmer leader...out? stuttered Grandma through her tears, the news had hit her hard, she always liked Ducky, she was so selfless and kind, to hear that she would probably be dead soon was a very hard prospect to accept.
"Sculra has all the power and only Sura stands against her dear. Does Littlefoot know about this?" asked Grandpa
Grandma shook her head. She did not want to think about how Littlefoot would react after being told that he would be helpless to save Ducky from death, just as he had been when he lost his mother. "It's not fair on him" said Grandma mournfully "he has already lost his mother and now he is faced with losing one of his best friends".
Grandpa nuzzled her again.
"No it isn't" he said "but we can help out Sura, anything we could do to help could make a difference".
"What about Littlefoot?" asked Grandma "we'll have to tell him soon".
"We will tell him when it is the last few days before the Trials, or if he asks, I don't want him to bear this burden longer then he must" replied Grampa.
The two longnecks nuzzled each other, they knew what they would do. Finally Grandma asked the crucial question:
"Do you think Ducky can successfully complete the Trial and survive?".
"I hope so dear, I hope so" replied Grandpa.
In the evening, after sundown Ruphus and Merri lay next to each other, the rest of the children were fast asleep. Merri told Ruphus how Littlefoot and his friends had enquired about Ducky's absence, when they came to watch the family train.
"I told them exactly what you told our children and they brought it, I feel so sorry for them, Ducky is in danger and they don't even know about it" said Merri.
Ruphus then told her about his talk with Sculra, she was just as shocked and angry as he had been when Ruphus told her what her demands were.
"That dirty foul mouthed son of a......" she said furiously continuing with her curses. "How could she be so heartless and selfish?" she asked.
"I don't know" replied Ruphus "She just is".
He took a long breath and finally voiced his concerns to Merri.
"I think we should consider fleeing to the mysterious beyond" he said.
Merri stared at Ruphus, her mouth hung agape.
"Why?".
"Because" said Ruphus "I don't think Ducky can master the Swimmer Wisdoms, you know there is a reason that only elders are allowed to learn then, they are considered way beyond the abilities of a youngling and Ducky's ability to master those skills is the only thing that will save her".
Merri considered what Ruphus said.
"Sura is a good parent and a good teacher, I'm sure she can teach Ducky the wisdoms, and by the way, running is out of the question. Sculra will just sent out word to the other herds that we've been banished and what will we do then? It is a bad idea, we won't survive long and we have too many children to look after" said Merri with reasoning.
"We are about to have a whole lot more"
Merri looked at Ruphus.
"Sura's pregnant".
The announcement shocked Merri just as it had done with Ruphus.
"That's great news, but why didn't she tell us?"
Ruphus sighed. "She didn't want Sculra to find out, it would mean more danger after she lays her eggs, which won't be long I'm sure, but Sculra already knows, she told me and she already started threatening the loss of the eggs before they are even laid".
Merri pondered this for a while, it seemed that their troubles were only growing bigger and bigger each day, and they could not resist or Sculra would hurt the children and they couldn't stop her, she had many allies while they had none.
Merri looked at Ruphus. "I wonder how Sura and Ducky are going in the Hidden Clearing?" she said quietly.
"I hope those two are okay" thought Ruphus. He wanted to be there to help Ducky but he had to look after the rest of the children. "and I hope Ducky will be okay" he thought before turning in for sleep.
Hope you like the chapter.
